This is another marathon blog penned by Geoffrey. Please contact me if you are interested in knowing more about anything related to this Marathon event.
Auckland is my hometown marathon, and the 2026 edition was the 35th anniversary of the event which first ran in 1992. Auckland was where I ran my very first utterly forgettable marathon in 2009. Rather surprising, 2026 was only my 4th time since then. Your hometown event is where you can best prepare yourself as you’re home (not travelling) and everything is familiar with minimal stress .
The decision to enter was late as Shanghai was 5 only weeks later and which I am targeting for a strong time. The plan was then to run Guangzhou 2 weeks after Shanghai but after missing out in the ballot I changed my plan to run the half marathon to the full and use this as a practice for Shanghai.
The 6am start time meant a 3am rise and I had prepared myself by adjusting my sleep times leading up to the big day. It was a good strategy as I woke 3am Sunday morning feeling relaxed and well rested.
The weather conditions were perfect – dry, cool and windless. I sat with the 4hrs 15min pacers and found this to be comfortable enough. You can usually tell how the run will pan out after the first 5km and despite the early hills I sensed this could be a good day if I didn’t blow it.
I consciously took the harbour bridge slow and it was also a good chance to experience the views and the early morning sun rising. The run really starts after halfway along Tamaki Drive – basically a 10km out and back along Auckland’s eastern waterfront. This is where you have to seriously focus on your pace and effort and to manage the fatigue so that you don’t hit the wall or cramp up before the end.
At 30km with the turn round at St Heliers I still felt ok but knew that concentration was now absolute key. You pray that the leg muscles won’t start twitching but in virtually all my previous marathons this invariably happens no matter how well you’ve prepared. It’s then a case of management. Recently I’ve being swirling pickle juice in my mouth at the first sign of cramps and I do think it helps. I’m realistic though – if your calves and hamstrings are seriously fatigued there is no miracle treatment apart from rest and recovery which truly works. However the pickle juice does seems to reduce the risk of a full-on muscle lock which would then immediately kill your entire race. My final time was 4:08:16 which was much better than I was expecting. My Garmin Smartwatch stats would indicate that I ran it perfectly . Stamina percentage starting at 100 and finishing at 7. An average feart rate of 143bpm and managing to finish at 164bpm. A very consistent pace throughout the whole race and being able to maintain this (just!) over the closing kms. Most importantly… no new niggles and I managed to recover pretty well and almost resume full training again a week later for Shanghai in just 4 weeks!
Nearly home